P&G, Wal-Mart Bail on In-Store Ad Study

The POPAI pilot study to measure in-store marketing has been derailed, at least for the time being, as Proctor & Gamble has opted out of participation despite the fact that a P&G executive sits on the study’s board, AdAge reports. Wal-Mart, too, has decided not to participate. The multi-million dollar study, which was designed to bring the detailed metrics used in TV and radio to the retail-advertising space and is being created by Point-of-Purchase Advertising International and the Association of National Advertisers, has no definitive start date now that P& G has pulled out.

P&G’s defection underlines the difficult task the study will have in persuading major marketers and retailers to share confidential data. POPAI’s CEO Dick Blatt said that the nonprofit knew from day one that the task would be daunting, and added that Kraft Foods, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola all remain part of the project.

A rival, for-profit organization, In-Store Marketing Institute, is pulling together its own research to bring metrics to in-store advertising and is lobbying P&G and Wal-Mart to participate, according to Peter Hoyt, executive director for the institute.

David Polinchock, chairman of the Brand Experience Lab, a New York-based firm focused on emerging technology in shopper marketing, is not surprised by the retailer’s or P&G’s decisions. “Let’s say, when you look at what PRN says, that they have 140 million viewers a week in their stores… What if this study showed that they really only have 2 million engaged viewers?” he is quoted as saying.

In-store advertising garners an estimated $17 billion a year in spending.